Higher-Order Desire As we know from the work of Frankfurt, it is possible to have second-order desires directed at first-order desires. For example, the prudent alcoholic may decide, upon reflection, to reject or moderate his desire for alcohol: he desires not to desire alcohol, or to act on that desire. He thinks about his first-order […]
I just finished reading Bob Dylan’s The Philosophy of Modern Song. There is no philosophy in it but plenty about song. He clearly has never read any philosophy of music, or perhaps any philosophy at all (bit of Nietzsche maybe). I don’t know what he means by “Modern Song”: certainly there is nothing classical in it, though […]
Ordering Philosophy Does philosophy consist of a bunch of more or less unconnected problems or is there a pattern to its problems? Is it possible to order philosophy in a natural and illuminating way, with some areas leading naturally to others, or is it that there is just a loose association of problems that historically […]
Gravity and Consciousness It is tempting to see an analogy between the mystery of consciousness and the mystery of gravity. Both arose at around the same time (with Descartes and Newton) as the Scientific Revolution was getting underway. Gravity and consciousness seem “occult” to a mechanistic worldview: the brain and the earth are extended objects […]
I’m curious about the demographics of my readership. I have the impression that no one from a North American philosophy department ever comments on this blog. I wonder whether readers would care to tell me whether I am wrong about this. Perhaps readers would like to share their affiliation.
Wimbledon and Me I had always been a one-handed player, forehand and backhand. Occasionally I would try a two-handed backhand and find it awkward and unnatural. But my neck operation in March changed all of this: it left my right arm impaired, causing me to lose power, mobility, and control. I was assured it would […]
Mass and Consciousness In “The Mysteries of Mass” Jorge Cham and Daniel Whitestone write as follows: “We have many descriptions of mass but very little understanding of what it is and why we have it. We all feel mass. As a baby, you develop that sense that some things are harder to push around than […]
I doubt that it will be necessary to cancel me for much longer, which will be a relief to my cancelers. Cancer will step in to help them out.
I have just finished six weeks of radiation treatment, five days a week. Among other things it damaged (temporarily) my sense of taste, making it difficult to eat; I now weigh 128 pounds. Compensation: it is now much easier to do my horizontal balance and I can do more pushups.
Tranquility Ethics What constitutes the good life? According to ethical hedonism, the good life is the life of pleasure. But what is it about pleasure that makes it conducive to the good life? Is it pleasure’s inherent phenomenology or is it something to which pleasure gives rise? Is it the way pleasure feels or is […]